Go to Your Happy Place (Part One)

One gem of advice I got on how to have your relationship survive remodeling a house while living in it is: create an oasis of calm.  Get that room painted and clean and happy and set up so when everything else in the house is falling apart, you can grab the dog and hide out in the safety of your happy place.



The obvious choice was the master bed/bath, so we started there and tried to finish it before spending our first night at the new pad.

Let's revisit what the master suite looked like the day we took possession:

The door shown above is the door into the master bath.  That's the next stop on our lovely tour:

I think this must be how parents feel and look back at photos of their babies.  "She was so small!"  "I can't believe how much she's grown!" (enter other parental sayings here.)

Let's pretend that the master suite is Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.  I wanted to make her go from this:

Would you want to sleep there?

To this:

Go ahead and put a ring on it.

Let's keep with this analogy.  I tore off all of the fabric - this meant the drapes (which we saved and now use as drop cloths), the shower curtains and the valence in the bathroom.  She got a good scrub down with a Mouse sander outfitted with a scrubbing pad and Clorox Cleaner:

Momma will be proud!

We also steam cleaned the carpet in the bedroom portion, scrubbed down the tub, washed the windows and the walls.  Everything was as spotless as it was going to get.

Then it was time to dress up that squeaky clean lady, I mean, suite.

Color.  I wanted a good neutral that would go with anything and we decided it'd be a good idea to paint both rooms the same for continuity and to help them both seem a little larger.

Enter Dolphin Fin.  

T was a little skeptical, but once we got it on the walls, we were both very happy:

This is probably the most accurate capture of the color.  A lovely, warm grey.

 This one shows the grey vs. the color that was previously on the walls and built ins.

And that is where I'll leave you for today.  Part two to come soon.